Just this once, I wasn’t going to let anything steal my attention from my wife. Not even her family or the brothers who had gotten me into this whole mess to begin with.
CHAPTER 43
CHARLOTTE
Ididn’t stand a chance against him. The moment his mouth covered mine again, everything inside me went loose and warm, like my very bones had decided they weren’t necessary anymore. I could feel how much he wanted me, how much he meant every word he’d just said, and it sent a deep, overwhelming wave of something through me that I wasn’t ready for.
But I wanted it. God, I wantedhim. More than anything else, except for his safety. That was the one thing I’d give him up for if I had to, to keep him and everything he’d worked for safe.
“Trent,” I managed, though I had no idea what I was trying to say.We can’t do this unless you’re willing to have all your dirty laundry hung out in public. Countrywide.
He kissed me before I could figure out how to tell him, slow and coaxing, like he was trying to erase every doubt I’d ever had. His hands slid down my sides and I arched into him without thinking, needing to just be close to him.
I wasn’t used to being held like I mattered, but Trent held me these days like I was the only thing in the world he cared about.
“You’re not a burden,” he whispered against my jaw. “Not to me.”
I pressed my forehead to his, breathing him in and letting myself feel everything he was saying without swallowing it down or pretending it was nothing. Because it wasn’t nothing.
It was him. It was this. He wanted me to have it. To haveus. Every kiss and every touch suddenly felt like some new truth I wasn’t brave enough to say out loud. His weight settled over me on the bed and I writhed under him instinctively, wanting more. Wanting all of him. Always.
All my fears blurred and then disappeared when his hands framed my hips and his body pressed closer. He moved with this fierce, focused tenderness that made my chest tighten, my pulse trip, and my thoughts scatter.
Trent wanted me in his life, and not for my name, or my usefulness, or my potential value. He wanted me just for who I was. I’d believed him when he’d said that, but I was really struggling to accept that it would be true if he knew what Gregory was threatening to do.
Yet, he hadn’t told me everything about his meeting with Alex either. I knew that and somehow I doubted Gregory was only threatening to tell people about Savannah. There was more. I knew it all the way to my marrow, but Trent wasn’t kissing me like he was scared.
Instead, he was kissing me like he was over all the drama and ready to just be us. A suspicion that was confirmed when he whispered against my throat, low and rough, and punctuated the words with these rolls of his hips that sent a full-body shiver through me.
“You’re not leaving this bed again until you know I’m never going anywhere, Charlotte,” he murmured. “I’m serious. About this and about you. We’re canceling on your brothers and staying right here until you know that nothing anyone can do is going to scare me away from you.”
He dragged his hands along my sides, his palms hot against my skin as he pulled my shirt off, and the entire universe shrank to a single point of heat. My shirt and bra hit the floor. He sealed his lips back over mine, and I lost track of time.
I lost track of everything but the way he held me together even while it felt like the whole world was trying to pull us apart.
Breathless as I snuggled into him, my leg was thrown over his and my head was on his chest. His arm wrapped around me, strong and protective, holding me against the steady rise and fall of his breathing.
Neither of us said anything, but I pressed a kiss to his skin, right over his heart, and felt him exhale like he’d been waiting for it. His fingers stroked my spine lazily and I melted deeper into him, sinking into that perfect space where my body felt heavy, safe, and completely his.
I fell asleep in his arms just like I had every night recently, and as always, I woke up alone. For a second, it didn’t even register as strange. Just routine, but then my brain caught up.
We weren’t on the ranch. There were no predawn chores calling his name. No horses, no cattle, and no responsibilities waiting to drag him out of bed before the sun had even risen.So why isn’t he here?
I pushed up on my elbows, squinting around the dim room, but there was no trace of him. A ripple of unease ran through me and I got up, pulling on Trent’s shirt that was huge on me and running a hand through my hair, trying to make myself look slightly less like someone who’d spent half the night wrapped around her husband.
I padded out of his bedroom expecting quiet, maybe coffee brewing and to find Trent on the couch or at the table, flipping through something ranch-related even though we were miles from it. What I didn’t expect was voices, low, tense, male, and familiar.
I stopped dead when I stepped into the kitchen and found Trent, Alex, and Nate standing around the island. The air was tight, charged with the kind of atmosphere that told me I’d just walked into the middle of something serious.
All three turned at the sound of my footsteps. Alex’s eyes hit me first, widened, and then narrowed in irritation that practically radiated from him like a laser beam.
I glanced down at myself, still wearing Trent’s shirt. It hung halfway to my knees, but somehow, it suddenly felt more revealing than a silk slip.
Oh. Okay. Right.Clearly, that was the face of a big brother processing the fact that his best friend was not only married to his sister, but had also spent the night thoroughly acting like it.
Beside him, Nate choked on a laugh, immediately swiping a hand over his face like he could hide the grin stretching across it.
“Oh, boy,” he muttered under his breath. “Morning, Lottie. Good night?”
